Le Pen's Front National to sue Madonna over swastika video

France’s far-right Front National (FN) is planning to sue Madonna over a video that shows party leader and former presidential candidate Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead. The video was shown at a concert the US-born singer gave in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

For the backdrop when she performed the song Nobody knows me in Tel Aviv, Madonna chose a video in which her face was collaged with a number of well-known individuals, ranging from Chinese leader Hu Jinatao to US politician Sarah Palin and from Pope Benedict XVI to Marine Le Pen.

Parliamentary elections 2012

In a split second Le Pen’s eyes and forehead appear with a swastika on them, before her whole face appears, followed by an image resembling Adolf Hitler.

The 53-year-old star is famous for provocative stunts, although less well-known as a commentator on French politics.

But a party official called it “incredible” and said that the party’s lawyer, Wallerand de Saint-Just, had been asked to look into what legal action could be taken over it.

“We’ll make money with the case we’re going to bring,” an anonymous source told 20 Minutes.

Le Pen said on Sunday that the party would be watching very closely to see if Madonna uses the video when she performs in Paris on the 14 July national holiday and in Nice on 21 August, without saying whether she will be taking legal action.

Comments (8)

Lepen and co are swastika and crematorium lovers.
Well said by Madonna.
If they have their way we all go to concentration camp.
Now they are a bit stronger than they used to be they threaten people who are known antinazi openly with anonymous phone calls-emails and they make ambushes and use violence against many individuals. I am a known conservative but because of my strong antinazi beliefs they are threatening me every day.

Perhaps Madonna should look closer to home for signs of Fascism....America is developing a nice line in Fascism[the president can now kill/detain anyone on his say so alone]but of course,thats where her friends are.Oh and dont lets forget the anti-African racist actions by the Israeli public recently..but she seems to have overlooked that as well as the plight of the Palestinians.Seems there are double standards in Madonnas world which makes her...a hypocrit!

Well done, Madonna. As usual you have the guts to come out with the most contraversial stuff. You are able to do what other people wouldn't dare. Good for you!!
Le Pen is a joke. If she sues you, just pay her off with your petty cash.

Well done Madonna, the world need more people people like you, you're actually the only artist out there that is not singing about stupid thing, but actually saying important things trough your songs.
What will happen when people who have things to say can't say them anymore? If the good ones can't speak, the bad ones have won already.
But I'm more surprised about their reaction: “We’ll make money with the case we’re going to bring”, so they don’t really care about Le Pen being portrayed as a Nazi, they just wanna make money. Poor Madonna, it must be so boring and frustrating trying to say something when the people you’re fighting against don’t give a damn about what you’re saying.

There is no way sugar coating Lepen's intention is different than that of Adolf Hitler. Her supporters could fool themselves by trying to downplay her racist intention, but the moment she opens her big mouth you can hear and feel the hate in the tone of the message in her unimpressive speeches. Since when is it illegal to call a racist racist??.